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White House encourages U.S. adoptions

There are no unwanted children... just unfound families. That's the premise of the first federal website to focus on children waiting to be adopted.

The site www.AdoptUSKids.org features photos and descriptions of thousands of children from across the country who desperately need parents. Adoptions are increasing because of a 1997 federal law that limited how long kids could remain in foster care before agencies started looking for permanent homes. On average, children spend about four years in foster care and most have special needs.

President Bush is concerned that many Americans, some of whom are frustrated by lengthy red tape in getting approved for adoptions, have been going overseas, particularly to China and nations of the former Soviet Union, to adopt children.

The federal site helps narrow searches by state, gender and age. Profiles of children can also be found on Children Profiles page.